“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”

Obama made the comments at an annual dinner in the White House State Dining Room celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The White House had not previously taken a stand on the mosque, which would be part of a $100 million Islamic center two blocks from where nearly 3,000 people perished when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Press secretary Robert Gibbs had insisted it was a local matter.

It was already much more than that, sparking debate around the country as top Republicans including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich announced their opposition. So did the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group.

Obama elevated it to a presidential issue Friday without equivocation.

Now, is there more to this issue than town-planning ordinances and the law’s constitutional blindness to flavours of religion? Yes, of course.

But those who ignorantly profess that the ‘Founding Fathers’ intended the US to be ‘one nation under a Christian god’ and that those of other religions (including Jews) should be treated as second-class citizens — and say that’s what they meant, are, to put it politely, talking out of their armpits. That’s not what the constitution says. Show me otherwise or admit you’re just appealing to religious prejudice.

Freedom of religion means freedom of religion. I have benefitted from that.
Separation of Church and State means that. What a relief to have that so cogently defended, Mr President.

While insisting that the place where the twin towers once stood was indeed “hallowed ground,” Obama said that the proper way to honor it was to apply American values.

“Our capacity to show not merely tolerance, but respect towards those who are different from us – and that way of life, that quintessentially American creed, stands in stark contrast to the nihilism of those who attacked us on that September morning, and who continue to plot against us today,” he said.

Obama harkened back to earlier times when the building of synagogues or Catholic churches also met with opposition. “But time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it,” he said. “So it must be and will be today.”

I was shocked by what I read about the strength of the anti-Catholic prejudice the Irish endured in Boston as reported in Nigel Hamilton’s JFK: Reckless Youth biography. Boy it was bad. Easy to forget.

Scratch a religious intolerant and you’ll find a bigot. Get a bunch of bigots together and you’ll have a lynching, or a church/synagogue/mosque/gypsy wagon burning … then a pogrom … and a holocaust. STOP.

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While his pronouncement concerning the mosque might find favor in the Muslim world, Obama’s stance runs counter to the opinions of the majority of Americans, according to polls. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week found that nearly 70 percent of Americans opposed the mosque plan while just 29 percent approved. A number of Democratic politicians have shied away from the controversy.

And from Think Progress:

Obama’s defense of the mosque has found some support on the right. Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson said Obama’s comments were “ultimately the right thing to do,” adding, “Obama is correct that the way to marginalize radicalism is to respect the best traditions of Islam and protect the religious liberty of Muslim Americans.”

Even on Fox News this morning, the Fox & Friends weekend hosts all agreed that Obama is performing the job that’s required of him. “Obama has to stand up for religious freedom,” said co-host Alisyn Camerota. “He has to stand up for our Constitution,” co-host Dave Briggs offered, to which co-host Clayton Morris added, “That’s the job he gets…defend the Constitution“.

Today, more from Obama, seen as ‘recalibrating’ his comments about a ‘fiery topic’…

Obama told CNN:

My intention was to simply let people know what I thought. Which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally in accordance with the law. Regardless of race. Regardless of religion.

I was not commenting on and will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country’s about and I think it’s very important that as difficult as some of these issues are, we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.

Re “I was shocked by what I read about the strength of the anti-Catholic prejudice the Irish endured in Boston as reported in Nigel Hamilton’s JFK: Reckless Youth biography. Boy it was bad. Easy to forget.”
I agree wholeheartedly. I think, however, that’s its so much easier for us with hindsight. We can also forget that “anti-Catholic prejudice” formed after hundreds of years of the RC’s officially burning all dissenters at the stake, a crime against God and man which John Paul II at last officially acknowledged as recently as 1999.

Thanks Graeme. re the anti RC prejudice, yes, I get what you’re saying, I think … my reaction was to how overt and (seemingly) impenetrable the barriers were for RCs in Boston. I guess there were reasons/causes, none justifiable of course (not that you’re saying otherwise).

As for the “Ten Ways Christians Tend to Fail at Being Christian” article ….pfah! Yes, he’s right … especially

3) Too quick to believe that we know what God really means by what he says in the Bible.
8 ) Too fixated on homosexuality. … and
10) Too uneducated about Christianity.